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A pair of bills to legalize online casinos in Massachusetts remains alive in the state’s Joint Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee, following a hearing at the end of June.
The bills, Sen. Paul Feeney’s H.332 and Rep. Daniel Cahill’s S.235, were introduced in February. The legislators originally filed the bills in January as HD 4084 and SD 2240.
The joint committee has until the end of the two-year legislative session on November 19 to vote on the bills. It may amend the bills if discussions warrant.
Bills that do not pass during the session typically die, and legislators must reintroduce them in the next session.
Massachusetts online casinos could generate $275 million annually
The Massachusetts online casino bill establishes the Massachusetts Gaming Commission as the industry’s regulatory body and institutes a 20% tax on adjusted gross revenue for online casino operators.
At last month’s committee hearing, DraftKings Government Affairs Manager David Prestwood said the new industry could bring the state up to $275 million in tax revenue.
The bill creates up to 10 licenses. The state’s three casinos can have up to two partners each, for a total of six (6) Category 1 licenses, and the MGC can award up to four additional untethered Category 2 licenses.
Approved operators would receive five-year licenses and be required to pay a $5 million licensing fee. They may renew that license every five years for $5 million.
MA regulators among the strictest nationwide
Massachusetts has traditionally taken an active regulatory approach to its legal gambling industry.
Earlier this year, MGC chair Jordan Maynard said the nationwide gambling industry was akin to “a highway without speed limits, cars without seatbelt dingers.” He told The Guardian that regulators can fulfill the responsibility of educating and protecting gamblers while also enforcing a legitimate legal gambling industry, which brings the state significant tax revenue.
The MGC fines multiple sports betting operators annually and regularly updates an involuntary exclusion list, which includes individuals who violated or conspired to violate gambling laws. The commission added more than two dozen people to that list in the first six months of the year.
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office has also banned several unregulated operators. It sent cease-and-desist letters to BetOnline.ag and SportsBetting.ag on June 25 and did the same to Bovada, one of the largest unregulated operators, in October.
iGaming likely a few years away
In addition to strictly enforcing gambling, the Bay State has been deliberate about expanding the gambling industry. It took three years to legalize retail casinos in 2011, following discussions that began in 2008.
Similarly, online sports betting discussions surfaced in 2019, but the legislation passed in 2022 to launch a year later. If history follows the same path, Massachusetts lawmakers will need a few years to get fully on board with online casinos as well.
Rep. David Muradian, a pro-iGaming Republican in the Democrat-controlled state legislature, shared the same sentiment with PlayUSA in August 2024 as he planned to file his own bill and begin discussions of legalizing Massachusetts online casinos.
“Realistically, the process to pass iGaming could take a few years,” Muradian said. “That’s OK, as I’m committed to starting the conversation in earnest. But if other states start moving on this, we’ll understand that Massachusetts doesn’t want to be left behind.”
Other states experienced unsuccessful results in attempts to legalize online casinos in 2025. Bills in Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, and Wyoming did not advance, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called online casino “worthy of consideration,” but did not include it in the final state budget.
